5 Ways to Shake up Your Beauty Routine

From cosmetic acupuncture to Himalayan salt treatments, the Main Line and surrounds have a variety of unique services.

By Melissa Jacobs

Shamanic Energy Medicine

How did a Baldwin School alum become the Main Line’s shaman? Stephanie Moore’s journey took her from Berwyn to the jungles of Chile and back. Today, she practices at Village Wellness, working with patients who have chronic pain, autoimmune diseases, depression and anxiety. “I help clients with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual problems,” she says. “Anything that manifests on one level is actually happening on all of those levels.”

Anxiety can cause physical symptoms, while fibromyalgia can cause depression. Moore uses healing stones, herbs and her hands to unblock clients’ energy. She also employs talk therapy, meditation and, yes, drums and feathers. “It’s about shifting toxic imprints, thought patterns and behaviors that people have accumulated through their lives,” Moore says. “Those things are keeping them stuck. My goal is to help clients create healthier, more expansive possibilities and better lives.”

Himalayan Salt Salve

Reducing sodium intake is a good thing—unless you’re breathing it. In that case, the more the better. Himalayan salt is packed with 84 trace minerals that work as anti-inflammatories. Lungs clear, migraines reduce, and joint pain eases.

It works best if you’re fully surrounded—and that’s the case at Anita Heft’s Himalayan Salt and Wellness Cave in Newtown Square. Heft outfitted four caves with more than 30,000 pounds of Himalayan salt. Pretty pink bricks line the walls of each room; floors are made of sand-like granules. During 45-minute sessions, clients lay in zero-gravity chairs inside the dimly lit caves. Heft says that some clients experience symptom relief immediately. “Most people with sinus issues start to feel mucus break down during the session,” says Heft. “People suffering from different neuropathies may need to come in weekly to feel a reduction in their tingling and the pain that comes with arthritis.”

Cosmetic Acupuncture

Putting 100 needles into your face may not sound like a recipe for great skin. But Megan Conover would argue otherwise. The co-owner of Healing Place Acupuncture in Wayne says cosmetic acupuncture is an all-natural anti-aging therapy that’s also great for acne, rosacea and other skin ailments. “The needles create micro traumas that trigger our bodies’ healing response, including the natural production of collagen and elastin,” Conover says.

It’s the same philosophy that’s behind chemical peels and laser treatments, but with far less trauma to the skin. Acupuncture is really a whole body treatment, so clients coming in for cosmetic reasons also benefit from hormone balancing and increased circulation.

Conover offers spot treatments for crows’ feet and laugh lines, though a series of 11 sessions is recommended. There’s even a series of four sessions available for brides looking to enhance their wedding-day glow.

Clean Beauty

Vegan mascara? A facial exfoliator made with lava and clay? Don’t knock either until you try it—and Amy Hahn really wants you to try both. It’s why she created Clean Routine, a Norristown-based monthly subscription service that delivers beauty boxes filled with sample sizes of chemical-free,
cruelty-free products.

Hahn founded Clean Routine after she survived Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a rare blood cancer. “After I was diagnosed, I discovered that most of what we put on our skin has toxins and cancer-causing chemicals that absorb into our bloodstream,” Hahn says. “I feel it’s my duty to inspire others and ensure people are living their healthiest lives.”

Compression Therapy

Recovery rooms are post-game must-haves for professional athletes and weekend warriors looking to enhance their workouts. The Zone is Life Time Athletic’s new recovery room—the first one in the country.

Among the various recovery room treatments at the Ardmore club: NormaTec compression therapy. While clients sit in zero-gravity chairs, boots and arm sleeves are inflated with compressed air. “It acts like a tourniquet, and when the pressure releases, it forces fresh blood cells into the area,” says Life Time trainer David Thornburg. “Among other things, it detoxifies and replenishes blood cells and soothes sore muscles.”

It sounds weird and looks weirder, but if it’s good enough for LeBron James, it’s good enough for us.